Bois Miracle - Bois Seigneur Isaac Miracle of the Eucharist

There is a small village in Belgium called Ittre,  some 15 miles to the south of Brussels. 

It’s not on the map.  It’s definitely not part of the Tourist Circle.  In the year 1405, Our Lord chose this place to give us the extraordinary gift of Himself in a Eucharistic Miracle known as the Bois Miracle or Bois Seigneur Isaac Miracle.

The young man to whom Our Lord decided to bestow the gift of Himself in the Eucharistic Miracle of Bois-Seigneur-Isaac (The Woods of Lord Isaac), was Jean du Bois (John of the Woods). 

He was a young aristocrat and heir of Lord Isaac. 

His life was taken up with many things: mostly girls, parties, horseback riding, and various revelries that young men of nobility, not having to work for a living, get involved in. Today we would categorize him as a Playboy. 

This is definitely NOT the kind of timber you would expect Our Lord to use to be the recipient of a Miracle of this magnitude. He possessed none of the virtues that we, using our human logic, would think necessary to qualify him for this great gift. 

His only saving grace was that we can detect some of St. Francis of Assisi in this John of the Woods. He had inherited a spirituality, still dormant at this time, from one of his ancestors, namely Lord Isaac, who had had a special relationship with Our Lady. 

Lord Isaac had built a chapel in honor of Our Lady on his property in the 11th Century. 

A statue of Our Lady was placed in the chapel, under the title “Our Lady of Grace and Consolation”. 

The chapel became a Marian Shrine for many of the local people.  Miracles and cures were attributed to the intercession of Our Lady at this shrine. 

Then, in 1336, a devastating plague broke out, which prompted the people to remove Our Lady’s statue from the Chapel.  They processed with the statue out to the country,  petitioning Our Lady to intercede on their behalf to Our Merciful Lord for an end to the plague.  Although their prayers were answered, and the plague was ended, the statue was not returned to the Chapel.  For the next 69 years, the chapel was not used as a shrine, until the Bois Miracle took place.

Lord Isaac’s descendant John du Bois was not a bad person. 

He practiced the religion of his family, which was Catholic.  But like many others, nobility in particular, he was Catholic in name only.  Matters of the spirit, and of his Faith belief were the farthest thing from his mind.  The time of the year was Spring.  John didn’t need an excuse for distraction from religious things,  but Spring would have been a perfect excuse for his thinking about matters of the heart.  On the Tuesday before Pentecost, he was sleeping soundly in his bed. 

It was somewhere around the middle of the night.  We can’t speculate about what he might have been dreaming, but it’s most likely safe to assume it had nothing to do with preparing him for what was about to happen.  A soft, strong voice called him out of his sleep.  As he opened his drowsy eyes, he could see before him a young man, about 30 years old,  dressed in a blue coat lined with ermine.  A bright aura surrounded the young man.  His face was sad.  His eyes penetrated John, causing him to awaken quickly.  John was startled by the man, the aura, and his unexplainable appearance in John’s bedroom.

John asked him what he wanted.  Before answering, the young man opened His coat.  His body was covered with welts, bruises, and open bleeding cuts.  John wanted to turn away, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the pitiful sight of the man’s body.  He had taken a brutal beating.  The young man’s eyes pierced John’s again.  Finally, He spoke:

“Look how they have mistreated me.  Find me a doctor, and an administrator of Justice, someone who will defend my cause.”

John was stunned, bewildered. His mind was not functioning.  He found it difficult to understand the deep sorrow he felt as he looked at the young man’s brutally beaten body.  He stammered, apologizing that there was no doctor available to come to his house this late at night. 

As for finding a judge, or someone in the Government to help bring the evil-doers to justice, John couldn’t help but recall all the times he had bragged to people about how influential he was with people in high positions.  At this moment, however, the truth of his position was forced on his lips.  He didn’t know how he could help his uninvited guest receive justice.

The young man showed no signs of disappointment.  He continued speaking as if John had said nothing.

“You could find the doctor very easily, if you knew where to look for him.”  He went on. “How can I not be covered with wounds?  They inflict new ones on me every day.” 

The young man then opened his coat wide, and pointed to the largest open wound, in his side, under the heart.  “This one,” he said, “gives me the cruelest torment.”

John du Bois was speechless.  He continued to stare at the man standing before him.  The young man closed his coat.  “If you can’t find me some remedy, at least place your hands on my wounds to relieve me.  Do what you can.  I will be grateful to you until you can do better....and I have pardoned the world.”  With this, he disappeared.

There’s nothing to indicate that John touched the Young Man’s wounds.  We don’t know that he spoke to anyone about it the next day.  We do know what we would have done, but it’s easy to talk in hindsight.  Nobility doesn’t necessarily make for intelligence.  We would think even a child should have known that he had been the recipient of a Heavenly Vision.  But then, a child’s heart would have been more open to a Heavenly Visit. 

We can’t understand how John didn’t run through the town, to the local priest, to the police, anywhere, shouting “I’ve had an appariton from God.  Everybody come to my house.  God is at my house. He needs our help.” 

But that might not have made sense, so John didn’t do that.  The only thing we know for sure is that John went to bed again the next evening, and that he was visited by the young man again.

The young man appeared to John much the same way as He had the previous night. He  showed John his wounds again.  He expressed disappointment with John for having done nothing to help heal his wounds.  He also said to him “Must I then get angry against a world that remains deaf to my laments?”  John did not respond.  It’s possible that he really didn’t know who was visiting him, and what he was trying to tell him. 

The next day, however, he began to react. 

He shared the experience with members of his family.  Their reaction was predictable. 

Most of them brushed his story off with comments to the effect that he had been partying too much, or had eaten something which didn’t agree with him.  The bottom line was they didn’t believe a word of what he was saying.  His own convictions were not very strong.  But he could not get the picture of the young man with all those wounds out of his mind.  The vision haunted him throughout that day.  He asked his brother to sleep in his room that night.  He needed some corroboration.  Was this really happening to him or was he a victim of his own mind?

That night, the young man appeared to John again.  This time, John, encouraged by his brother’s presence in the room, spoke bravely to the Vision.  “If I were to call a doctor for you, where would I send him?  I don’t know who you are, or where you live.” 

At last, the young man knew that he was reaching John.  He answered John, “Take the key to the chapel, and go in.  You’ll find me there, and you’ll know who I am.”

Then, a strange thing happened.  John found himself in ecstasy.  Today, we’d call it an “Out of Body Experience”. 

He saw himself leave his body.  He was transported by heavenly powers to the chapel.  His attention was focused on the Crucifix of the Savior at the upper part of the altar, which showed Our Lord Jesus covered with open wounds, the greatest being that in His side, under His heart. 

The Image was almost exactly like that of the Young Man who had visited him three times.  Finally, he understood that it was Our Lord Jesus who had come to him.  His heart was filled with the spirit of the Lord.  It’s as if the doors of his mind were opened, and he could understand all that the Lord was trying to tell him.

The ecstacy ended.  He was back in his own bed. 

His heart pounded  furiously.  He turned to ask his brother what he had seen.  The brother was fast asleep.  John had not been able to share with  his brother any of the things that had happened to him.  He woke his brother and, after scolding him for not having been awake to protect him, John shared what had happened.  The tables were now turned on John.  He found himself in the position of the young man, trying to explain to his brother, who was half asleep, and unable to understand anything John was saying to him. 

John burned with excitement the rest of the night.  He couldn’t sleep.  He wasn’t quite sure what he would do the next day, but he knew he would be doing something.  He was completely committed to the Lord in whatever He wanted of John.  He was converted.  He was filled with the Holy Spirit.

THE BOIS MIRACLE

When the Lord decides to move, the earth moves, and everyone on it.  Things begin to take shape.  All the pieces fit into place. 

The local Parish priest, Peter Ost, had an Inner Locution (an inner voice) during the night.  A heavenly voice told him “Peter, go to the chapel in the Bois Seigneur Isaac tomorrow morning, and celebrate the Mass of the Holy Cross.”  He was not required to celebrate Mass in the morning, because he was scheduled to celebrate an anniversary Mass at his own church in the evening.  In addition, he had celebrated Mass at the chapel three days before.  So this was not a normal thing for him to do.  But Peter Ost was a man of faith and obedience.  It was not important that he didn’t understand what it was all about.  He felt the Lord speaking to him, and he obeyed.

He got up early in the morning, and began the trip across the woods to the Chapel of Bois Seigneur Isaac.  Upon arriving, he opened the chapel, and rang the bell to let the local people know that Mass would commence shortly.  The faithful began to flock into the church.  But the first one in, although not a stranger to the people, was a stranger to the Church.  It was John du Bois, who also wasn’t quite sure why he was there.

As the priest began the Offertory, he unfolded the corporal and placed it in position for the Consecration. 

As he began to pray, the  priest noticed a piece of the large Host on the corporal that he had consecrated the previous Tuesday during the Mass.  This was the same day that the Lord appeared to John the first time.  A rush of fear went through the priest’s body.  He realized that he must have dropped It onto the corporal during the Mass, and had just folded It into the corporal when he finished the celebration.  He tried to remove the Host from the corporal.  He planned to consume It after the Consecration.  However, it seemed that the Host was stuck to the corporal.  It wouldn’t come loose. 

As he tried to pry It off, Fresh Blood began dripping from the Host.  It didn’t change in appearance.  It was still white.  But Blood welled up all around It.

The priest felt his legs buckle beneath him.  He could feel all his strength ebbing out of him.  The room began to spin.  He held onto the altar to steady himself.  John du Bois saw what had happened, and rushed up to the altar.  “Father, don’t be afraid.  This miracle comes from God.” 

The priest looked at John incredulously at first, and although knowing John’s background would preclude any meaningful spirtitual advise Fr. Peter could rely on, he saw a look in John’s eyes, and an inner strength that came from him.  Fr. Peter was able to compose himself, and continue the Mass.  He folded the corporal containing the Bleeding Host, and used a new corporal for the Mass.  He kept looking at the folded corporal during the Mass, however, and noted that the bloodstain became larger.

After the Mass, he unfolded the original corporal, to find that the blood was still flowing from the Host.  The Host, still white in appearance, floated in the pool of blood.  All the members of the congregation at Mass witnessed the Bois Miracle. 

The priest grieved, believing that this was all his fault. 

Had he consumed the Host entirely, and not left the Sacred Piece in the Corporal when he had celebrated Mass three days before, none of this would have happened.  There are those, Fr. Peter included, who judged that he had either lost his belief in the physical presence of Our Lord Jesus in the Eucharist, or that he had become lax in his duties.  Perhaps he had lost his fervor for the gift he had been given directly by the Lord on the day of his ordination.

This seems to be a matter of individual judgment.  We must compare the two people who had received messages directly from heaven. 

John du Bois actually saw Our Lord Jesus three times before he was willing to accept the miracle before him.  Jesus almost had to hit him on the head with a bat before he responded.

Our priest, Peter Ost, on the other hand, responded to a feeling,  an Inner Voice.  The priest felt God speaking to him.  He didn’t actually hear it.  But he reacted to the message immediately.  While it’s true that the priest had been given more gifts than the lay person, and therefore, had more responsibilities, we find it hard to believe he had lost any part of his vocation.  It takes a lot of faith to believe and respond to voices in the night.

A major point here is attitude, and openness.  The priest was open to the command of the Lord.  His attitude was not one of disbelief, or apathy, as he might have judged.  The Lord was able to work through Peter Ost, more easily as it turned out, than through John du Bois.  No one is denying that the priest was careless, and his carelessness could have put Our Lord Jesus into jeopardy.  The situation was serious enough for Jesus to appear to John du Bois, and plead for help.  Or did the Lord put this whole plan into effect for other reasons?  As our story unfolds, we see the positive results of this act of carelessness by the priest.

Blood continued to flow from the Host for five days, until the Tuesday after Pentecost.  It was not gushing, but a slow, steady flow.  When it finally stopped, it covered an area of approximately 3 inches by 6 inches of the corporal.  Within a few weeks, it had dried completely. 

By this time, the local Church authorities had taken an interest in the miraculous Corporal, and took it from the Church of Bois Seigneur Isaac, to investigate it. 

The Bishop of Cambrai, one Pierre d’Ailly, was the bishop of the area.  He put the Corporal through grueling tests, including soaking it in wine, milk and lye.  The Miraculous Gift of the Lord held up under all these tests.  How many members of the Investigating Team, or those in the Bishop’s office had their strength renewed, as a result of Our Lord allowing Himself to be soaked, prodded, and burned in lye?

In the meantime, what happened to John du Bois, our young playboy? He became a Zealot. 

For six years, he pleaded with the Bishop, used his influence as a nobleman, turned heaven and earth upside down for the Miraculous Corporal to be returned to the Chapel of the Woods.  His family and friends considered him somewhat of an eccentric, obsessed by this bleeding Altar Cloth.  The bishop knew he would have no peace until he gave in to the request of John du Bois.  On May 3, 1411, the auxiliary bishop consecrated the chapel in honor of the Precious Blood, Our Lady, and also St. John the Baptist.  The Eucharistic Miracle was returned to the chapel.

John du Bois was pleased, but it seemed like he never forgave himself for not being sensitive to Our Lord those first two nights He appeared to him in the form of the Young Man.  Looking back, he could not understand how he couldn’t possibly have known that it was the Lord begging him for help.  John du Bois continued bothering Bishop d’Ailly, who proceeded to become a Cardinal. 

After more than two years of pestering by John du Bois, on September 23, 1413, the Cardinal opened an Investigation to officially confirm the authenticity of the Miracle. 

The Cardinal called himself a simple believer, completely convinced personally that Divine intervention had brought about the Eucharistic Miracle at Bois Seigneur Isaac.  But he wanted to proceed according to canonical law.  So the ordeal for the Lord, and for John du Bois began again. 

However, Jesus did not allow that much of an ordeal, because 17 days later, on October 10, 1413, a Papal Bull was issued confirming the authenticity of the miracle.  The Cardinal also ordered that a procession take place each year on the first Sunday following the Feast of the Birth of Our Lady, combining the Eucharistic Miracle with the honor Mary had been given at the Chapel, prior to the Miraculous event. 

The procession has been held every year from that time to this, except during the French Revolution, and most likely during the Nazi Occupation of Belgium.

The Eucharistic Miracle is still on display in the Church in the little village of Ittre, Belgium. 

Pilgrims from all over Europe come to this shrine to venerate the special gift the Lord gave us.